I might be hesitant to reach out and grab what I wanted, but I was starting to think that I deserved the things I’d never had.
I stepped off the elevator at the ground floor and looked around for Jett’s driver.
He ended up finding me.
“Ms. Kent?”
I turned around and saw the face connected to the voice that was calling my name.
He was a very distinguished looking, silver-haired gentleman in an elegant suit and tie.
“Please call me Ruby,” I requested as I put my hand out to him. “I really appreciate this.”
I’d spent the morning helping Jett get his office organized after so much time away. Then, I’d asked him if I could use his car and driver since I didn’t have a valid license yet.
I think he’d assumed I wanted to see the sights, and he offered to go with me, but I’d told him I’d really like some time alone.
He’d capitulated immediately, and though he’d looked disappointed, Jett had hooked me up to meet his driver in the lobby.
I didn’t plan on sightseeing, but the afternoon was for me.
I’d debated over what outfit to wear, but I’d finally admitted to myself none of them were really my style. They were way too fussy, and I hadn’t felt comfortable in any of the garments even though I’d tried on every single dress in the wardrobe Jett had given me.
I told myself it was a waste to buy another dress, but my self-talk hadn’t worked. I wanted a dress that was me, and I wanted to choose it myself.
“You can call me Pete,” the gentleman said as he shook my hand politely. “You have no reason to appreciate the fact that I’m doing my job,” he said genially.
I shrugged. “Sorry, but I still do appreciate it,” I answered with a smile. “You’re paid to haul Jett around.”
I frowned as I pulled my hand back, noticing how ragged and torn up my hands and nails looked.
“And anyone he tells me to haul around,” Pete added with a smile. “Where are we going today?”
I searched in my cross-body purse, and finally found what I was looking for. “I need to get to one of these banks, if you know where they have one.” I flipped the savings book for him to see. “I don’t have the right dress, and Jett is going to take me to a restaurant on the water tonight. I have to take some money out.”
He nodded. “There’s one not far from here. I’ll take you there.”
I followed him as we went outside and he opened the back door of a luxury sedan.
The vehicle had to be custom. The back was outfitted with a huge space where you could do almost anything in the vehicle, from having a drink to taking a nap.
“Can I sit in the front with you?” I asked hesitantly. “I’m not really used to all this. I just wanted a ride.”
“That’s not usually done,” he mused.
I folded my arms and gave him a skeptical look. “Are you trying to tell me that Jett doesn’t sit in the front? He’s not exactly a guy who always follows the rules.”
Pete cracked a little smile. “Sometimes he does keep me company up front,” he admitted as he closed the back door and opened the front passenger side.
I hopped in with a sigh of relief. For me, there was just something wrong with having a driver and sitting alone in the backseat.
As Pete took his place behind the wheel, he said, “You seem to know Mr. Lawson quite well.”
“Well enough to figure out that he wouldn’t leave you alone up here unless he had urgent things to accomplish. He’s fairly down-to-earth for a rich guy.”
“To be honest, he usually prefers to drive himself unless his leg is bothering him.”
I nodded. “That sounds like him.”
We pulled into the parking lot of the bank soon after we’d left Jett’s penthouse.
After promising Pete I’d try to hurry and hearing him tell me that I had to do no such thing, I jogged into the bank and stood in line for a teller.
When it was my turn, I stepped up to speak with the cheerful blonde woman who was smiling at me.
“I need to make a withdrawal please,” I said breathlessly.
She took my account book from my hand and entered the account number.
“How much would you like to withdraw?” she asked politely while she appeared to wait for the account information to come up.